Best Battery Setup & Larger Gen Tank - Montana Owners Club

JMG · 02-14-2009, 12:50 PM

I plan to do some dry camping this summer at Silverton, CO. - and I need to replace my dead battery before we go. What battery type should I replace it with? And would you use a single or dual battery setup?
I do have a Yamaha 2400 generator that I plan to use - but it's tank is too small to run all night - which brings me to my next question.
How to add a larger tank to this generator?
jmg

exav8tr · 02-14-2009, 01:32 PM

JMG, I will have 2 years on my battery this year and have given a lot of thought to the same question. Should my battery fail I will replace it with two 6 volt golf cart batteries. We do not do a lot of boondocking so our present battery should be OK for awhile, but I believe next year we will be exploring boondocking more so the added battery power is warranted.

There are some folks who have added a 6 gal fuel tank to their Honda Gens and I'm sure they will be along to offer their advice and how to. Happy RV'ing.....

HamRad · 02-14-2009, 01:48 PM

JMG,

Unless you are dry camping somewhere all by yourself you will not want to run your generator all night. A good setup would be two 12 volt true deep cycle batteries. But, like Phil, when I replace my current setup (2 12 volt maintenance free) I will go with a couple of the "golf cart" type 6 volt batteries.

A couple of batteries with an inverter will easily power your rig most of the night. By that I mean run your furnace a few lights and, in my case, a CPAP machine. While at Quartzsite we run our generator until about 10pm. During the day we would run the Generator just when we were watching television or running the microwave. Running your generator two or three hours per day should charge up your batteries for a night or two.

HamRad

ols1932 · 02-14-2009, 03:16 PM

Look into AGM batteries. These are not wet cell batteries and their life is unlimited. We've had ours for 5 1/2 years now and still going strong. We do a lot of boondocking so we spent a lot for batteries -- Lifeline D8 12-volt batteries with 255 ampere hours storage in each battery. When we are boondocking for an extended period with overcast skies, we then just pull out our Honda 2000 and recharge. Check them out here.

Orv

deepskyridge · 02-15-2009, 12:51 AM

I upgraded the batteries in our 2955 last year. I went with golf cart batteries from Sams Club. I also included a Bogart monitor panel and a disconnect relay. The second picture shows the positive buss bar, the disconnect relay and the shunt for the monitor panel from left to right.

Gary

HamRad · 02-15-2009, 06:30 AM

Deepskyridge,

Nice setup! That's the kind of thing I'd like to do. So as soon as these batteries go out on me that's what I'll do. Nice pictures too.

HamRad

exav8tr · 02-15-2009, 06:59 AM

Same here, Gary. Thanks for the pics!!!!

Phil

WorkerB · 02-15-2009, 07:09 AM

Gary,
Sweeet setup! When you refer to disconnect relay are you talking about the resettable breakers or are you talking about a low voltage disconnect? If the latter could you tell me the model number and where you got it? I am considering the Bogart Tri-Metric or the Bogart Penta-Metric monitor.
Again, very nice setup.
John

deepskyridge · 02-15-2009, 01:28 PM

Thanks for the kind remarks.

I used this disconnect relay
http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/parts/r...tery-relay.htm

I used the Bogart Tri-Metric panel and it has worked well.

Good luck with your upgrade.

Gary

bsmeaton · 02-16-2009, 04:34 AM

Gary,
Nice setup! Can I assume you don't have the generator prep? I do and I don't think I have enough room for two of the blue sea boxes side by side.

deepskyridge · 02-16-2009, 04:39 AM

I don't have the Generator Prep.

I use a portable one.

Gary

Joel Bickford · 05-30-2009, 09:17 AM

deepskyridge - How can I get one of your awesome blue-topped battery boxes? I haven't seen those before!

Joel Bickford

PennyC · 05-30-2009, 10:48 AM

The blue sea battery boxes can be purchased from several places. One place is www.boatelectric.com/battery.

Hope this helps.

HamRad · 05-30-2009, 02:57 PM

PennyC,
I tried to connect to the link you provided and get "the system cannot open the file"....

Or something to that effect.

Thanks,

HamRad

Joel Bickford · 05-30-2009, 05:17 PM

deepskyridge - Your snorkel attachment looked very nice too. Is the Blue Sea box prepped for that or did you modify it?

**Carl n Susan** · 05-30-2009, 07:26 PM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by HamRad

PennyC,
I tried to connect to the link you provided and get "the system cannot open the file"....

Or something to that effect.

Thanks,

HamRad

Try
http://www.boatelectric.com/batterybox.htm

grooving grandpa · 05-31-2009, 04:41 PM

May seem to be a dump question, but not for me Gary, what are the two back tubes coming out of the batteries for and where are they going.

**Carl n Susan** · 05-31-2009, 06:15 PM

I suspect the two black tubes vent the gases from the battery out of the compartment. You should have a similar arrangement from what ever batteries are currently installed in your rig.

grooving grandpa · 05-31-2009, 06:27 PM

My 2005 2955RL has no such vents. There is a cover that you strap down over the batteries. Interesting. My fellow RVer had me replace my 2 12v with 2 golf cart 6 volt but no excaust tubes. I used the same casing that the 12 volts were in, which is not designed for batteries in series, so the cover does not fit flush. From the pictures, I can't tell where the exchaust goes. I assume just into the compartment.

**Rondo** · 05-31-2009, 06:32 PM

Nope the exhaust tubes run to a vent on the front nose of your Monte! I have a 2004 2980rl and it has the vent tube and the vent hole with a grill on it just above the front basement door! Not a good thing if the batteries are venting their gases just into the compartment. The gas could leak into the bedroom or whatever!

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